Best of the Bins 2

St. Swithins Day
Written by Grant Morrison
Illustrated by Paul Grist
(Oni Press)

Last week it was an enire series that I championed, this week a single issue.

St. Swithins Day, for those of you who may not know of it, was a four part story originally penned by Morrison to appear in the failed Trident anthology back in 1989. Almost ten years later, it saw print, collected in one volume, by Oni Press. If I remember correctly, it was one of the first books they published as a company along with some dreadful magazine sized book by Frank Miller and Simon Bisley.

Anyway, the story revolves around an unnamed male protagonist who is your average disaffected youth in Britain at the end of the '80s. He's on his way to London to shoot the Prime Minister (Margaret Thatcher) hoping to commit one significant act in his otherwise uneventful and unimportant life that will actually affect people. He believes that there will be parties in the streets afterwards, and though he will surely die, it will be his name on the newscasts and in the newspapers the following day.

Paul Grist is the artist on the story and does a great job of communicating the sadness of the main character, and the overall blandness of the world he inhabits. Very simple lines, good uses of blacks and great characterizations make Morrison's story come alive, and it was likely no easy task. It's a very talky piece, with the main character thinking to himself almost throughout the whole story. You can probably count the panels with word balloons on one hand, and with no supporting characters to speak of, Grist is set with the task of communicating the emotional centre of the story through expressions and scenery.

If you're tired of Morrison's JLA or his other forays into the super-hero world, I would definitely recommend St. Swithins Day. It is a solid read that shows what Morrison can do without a 'widescreen' canvas to play in. No trippy science, no crazy twists, just straight solid character.

mike